Five Examples of Community Harmony in Indonesia

Departing from the 2017 Religious Harmony Index (IKUB-2017) produced by the National Religious Harmony Index Survey, the Research and Development Guidance of the Religious Guidance and Religious Services of the Ministry of Religion's Research and Development Agency conducted a research on the level of religious harmony in Indonesia documented in the form of books monograph. In writing the researchers deepened the data in five regions namely Aceh, Padang, Cimahi, Gianyar, and Kupang.

The relation between Hinduism and Islam in Sindu Village, Keramas Village, Blahbatu District, is an example of the practice of harmony chosen in Gianyar. The long history of this relationship has produced awareness about living together and building local wisdom that is distinctive, such as metulungan (help helping), disguising (kinship ties, kinship), ngeful (giving mutual support during religious ceremonies), and ngayah (village social work). Essentially, the building of local wisdom becomes the foundation of harmony in the relationship between Hindus and Muslims.

Utilization of local wisdom is a major concern in seeing the practice of harmony in the city of Kupang. The NTT community in general is still strongly influenced by the inheritance of ancestral values, regulations, and customary laws, as well as past traditions, so that it has a relatively rich and diverse variety of local wisdom.

One form of local wisdom that is still alive in Kupang is "kinship culture" (kinship culture) which is built on the basis of traditional houses. Customary home-based social unity can bring together people from various religious backgrounds with their respective degrees of autonomy but in a spirit of harmony. Another form of local wisdom is collective civic engagement in joint work in neighborhood environments such as in building houses of worship.

Meanwhile the pattern of tolerance and harmony in the practical reality of religious life in the city of Banda Aceh can be witnessed in the Peunayong area, a part of the city that is thought to have existed since the time of the Aceh Darussalam sultanate which was established in the 16th century.

Here, harmony is contributed by the existence of two pillars, namely a pluralistic culture that has long been embedded in the history of Aceh and a network of citizenship which has become a bridge of communication between different religious and ethnic communities. These two factors have so far been effective in building the social cohesion of the Banda Aceh community in Peunayong.

The pattern of relations between ethnic and religious communities in the city of Padang at the grassroots level is described as conducive to harmony. The practice of harmony in the life of religious people in Padang is inseparable from the social capital they have as seen in the tradition of compromise between the residents of Nias Christian and Minang-Muslim in the Mata Air village, South Padang.

This tradition is a discussion about various social activities between the figures of the two groups, so it is not strange if there is a Citizenship (RW) for example led by a Christian even though the majority of the population is Muslim.

Another practice of harmony is malakok (assimilation), which is the process of the entry of newcomers into the original entry structure (indigenous population). However, at the broader elite level, obstacles were still found among others in the form of suspicion of minority groups.

In the past, Easter marches were common, something that is no longer possible today. Activation of the potential for harmony and scaling up continuously from the grassroots level to the elite level or to the level of public policy, is still very much needed, so that traditions such as dyeing and malacca can flourish and affect the people of Padang City on a large scale.

Harmony between religious communities in the City of Cimahi is illustrated in the social relations between the indigenous people of Sunda Wiwitan and the predominantly Muslim community in Cireundeu Village, Leuwigajah Village, Cimahi Selatan District. Food security in the form of cassava cultivation with all its benefits, is able to become a medium for enhancing harmonious relations between citizens.

Cireundeu indigenous people share experiences and economic benefits of cassava cultivation with the surrounding community. Furthermore, the power of indigenous knowledge inherent in this indigenous group provides benefits for environmental preservation, development of cultural tourism, and conservation of heritage of ancient Sundanese letters.

This research has been published in a monograph. The hope, the five loci can provide the best practices (best practices) of religious harmony in Indonesia, with all the challenges and progress that exists.